1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a recording apparatus and method having a smoothing function of virtually improving resolution, improving jagged portions, and improving the quality of recording.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional recording apparatus having the smoothing function includes a printing buffer, used when performing smoothing processing, for storing more data than data covering the width (height) of a recording head. When recording a character exceeding the width (height) of a print head, such as an enlarged character or the like, smoothing processing is performed in consideration of the connecting portions, each extending over a plurality of recording paths or scans. For that purpose, a printing buffer for storing more data than data covering the width (height) of a recording head is required, and a large memory capacity is required.
In a method in which such an extra memory capacity is not required, a printing buffer is provided for each band width (height) covering the width (height) of a recording head, and smoothing processing is performed for each band width (height).
In this method, however, since data of a lower portion cannot be taken into consideration for a portion extending over bands (paths), connecting portions look unnatural in an enlarged character, such as a double-height character or the like, so that the quality of the character is, in some cases, partially degraded as a result of smoothing processing.